Orecchiette with Sausage and Spinach Recipe
Skillet pasta dish filled with orecchiette pasta, Italian sausage and fresh spinach.
Ingredients
- 8 ouncesorecchiette pasta
- 1 pounditalian sausage (bulk, without casings. hot or mild)
- ½ cupdiced onion
- 1 teaspoongarlic
- ¼ teaspoonitalian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoonred pepper flakes
- ½ cupchicken broth
- 1 cupheavy whipping cream
- 2 cupsfresh spinach (coarsely chopped)
- ¼ cupfreshly grated parmesan cheese
- ½lemon zest (from ½ a lemon)
- ½ cuppasta water (saved from cooking pasta. used to thin sauce, if needed.)
Directions
- 1
Bring a pot of water to boil. Once boiling, add pasta and cook according to package directions. When pasta is cooked al dente or to your liking, drain well, but do not rinse.
- 2
Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook Italian sausage.
- 3
When the sausage is about halfway cooked, add the onions. Continue cooking until the sausage is cooked through.
- 4
Drain off any excess grease.
- 5
Add garlic and seasonings and stir together.
- 6
Add chicken broth and stir to deglaze the pan scraping up any browned bits stuck to the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes until about half of the liquid has evaporated.
- 7
Stir in heavy cream and then stir in spinach. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the cream begins to thicken and the spinach wilts.
- 8
Stir in cooked and drained pasta.
- 9
Stir in freshly grated Parmesan and lemon zest.
- 10
Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley if desired.
- 11
If sauce is too thick, add a bit of saved pasta water and stir until desired consistency. Add just a few tablespoons at a time. You can also use chicken broth.